Reply to: Do you have call centres in the UK? Oh yes..

[Helios]

Their name does not sound as posh as Lloyds TSB that I currently use

Who gives a sh|t? Your spelling is as posh as your smell

[AtW]

Their name does not sound as posh as Lloyds TSB that I currently use

[Mordac]

No, it's actually very good - certainly the best bank I have ever used. Painless phone banking, excellent internet banking, if you ever need to speak to a human they're in the UK. I recommend them most heartily. I wish they didn't support NewLie though. It's one of their subsidiaries which is bankrolling the NewLie partys overdraft.
You can't have everything...

[AtW]

Is CoOp bank anything like those crappy quality but rip off prices CoOp shops on some high streets?

[Mordac]

For example, I currently bank with the CoOperative, and my understanding is they have not outsourced.

As do I (for the same reason). They do (I recently discovered) donate lots to NewLie though.

[AtW]

TV ads typically lose money - their main purpose is branding rather than sales.

You therefore pay extra money for priviledge of having to pay money to one of the household names. If you are in a situation where Churchill or Norwich or any other well known name offered the smallest quote, then you have not looked good enough.

[_V_]

"I want to know the number for aaaaa in Wooton Basset"

Wootton Bassett

HTH

[Churchill]

Ripoff? I found Churchill's quote was the lowest around.

PS Mr Noddy Dog, can I have my promotion fee now? Oh Yes!

That logic that companies who advertise on TV must be more expensive to pay for the ads implies that ads don't pay for themselves by bringing in more business, hence lowering cost of overheads per policy. No idea, one should never assume that large organisations, whether companies or governments always make rational decisions, but it seems unlikely.

We are told the government is looking again at globalisation. Don't hold your breath.

Good morning Xog!

Brown envelope is on the way - usual address?

[xoggoth]

Ripoff? I found Churchill's quote was the lowest around.

PS Mr Noddy Dog, can I have my promotion fee now? Oh Yes!

That logic that companies who advertise on TV must be more expensive to pay for the ads implies that ads don't pay for themselves by bringing in more business, hence lowering cost of overheads per policy. No idea, one should never assume that large organisations, whether companies or governments always make rational decisions, but it seems unlikely.

We are told the government is looking again at globalisation. Don't hold your breath.

[mcquiggd]

It's a bit like calling the outsourced directory enquiries numbers...

"I want to know the number for aaaaa in Wooton Basset"

Silence for a few seconds...

"Please repeat"


Be prepared for a hefty phone bill.

[VectraMan]

I remember calling Sky, in India of course, who then had to transfer me to their Scotish call centre, who were even more incomprehensible than the Indian call centre.

But I resent having to call anyone in this day and age. I needed a duplicate car insurance certificate out of AA insurance recently, but their online "request a duplicate insurance document service" was broken for weeks on end so I ended up spending hours in a telephone queue instead.

[Troll]

much of the call centre work is outsourced to india, and development to wipro.

I currently bank with the CoOperative, and my understanding is they have not outsourced.

Even more fun when you have tele conferences with Bangalore & Pune and you can't understand a word they say!!

[mcquiggd]

those businesses normally waste money on stupid projects like you mentioned or big TV ads, something I don't want to subsidise.

I partially agree... to my knowledge, the CoOperative bank has not advertised on TV, and they have a fairly strict 'ethical investment policy' - e.g. your money won't be used to finance some foreign war.

I am not against all marketing, but these days, talking to friends, and internet 'word of mouth' and research, has far more impact on me than TV advertising. I cannot think of anything I have bought directly due to advertising... and I do understand it is intended to be a subconcious influence. If anything, I tend to react against that.

[AtW]

Yes I too would prefer money to stay within the UK - this way they will circulate more and more taxes to be paid (thus making it a bit less likely that more taxes will be needed), however in some cases businesses are grossly ineffective and the fact that they employ UK citizens is not enough in my view - those businesses normally waste money on stupid projects like you mentioned or big TV ads, something I don't want to subsidise.

What I find really ridiculous about car insurance is this - why the F\/CK price range for the same input parameters of me vary from £550 to over £2000? I mean actuaries who calculate risks will certainly have different formulaes, but not 4 bloody times! If it was £10 or £40, then fair enough, but £1500 quid difference per year on a small hatchback for pretty much doing nothing (I am low risk driver IMO), is taking the piss.

[mcquiggd]

Alexei, in certain respects I agree with you - I worked for Norwich Union and have friends there... much of the call centre work is outsourced to india, and development to wipro. They spent £350 million on a failed project called Wealth Management while I was there.

Prices for their products have of course, stayed the same, or increased.


Personally I do *try* to make decisions that are based on whether or not a company is really employing UK people or not - the difficulty is in finding out the information. For example, I currently bank with the CoOperative, and my understanding is they have not outsourced.